Smooth-bore rotating cannon.



W. C. HEITKAMP. SMOOTH BORE ROTATING CANNON.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1904.

. KAMP, a citizen of the at Pleasant Rid UNITED ISTAT-Es 12M-ENT OFFICE.

\ WILLIAM o. HErrKAMP, oF PL A v 'SMOOTH-Bolas noTAg-ING cANNoN.

'non which will rotate the projectile as it to said IYS . quicker andeasier, inasmuch passes through the barrel, Ithereby impartingprojectile arotary motion similar to that imparted by a riiled cannon orgun.

The cannon or gun constructed in accordance with my invention can bemade much eration, which is slow and expensive, is en- 'making t tirelyavoided. y

Broadly speaking, my lnvention conslsts 1n e cannon of an outer sectlonand an inner section, said inner section having a exterior thereof, eachseries of spirally-arranged grooves upon the oove having an inletopeningat its rear en and which communicates with thebore of the cannon and theoutlet-opening at the forward end, which also communicates with the boreof the cannon, Asaid grooves and passages being so arranged that thegases generated in the explosion-chamber will pass therethroughsimultaneously with the passage of the proj ectile and owing to thespiral arrangement of the grooves and passages will impart a rotarmotion to the projectlle as it passes through the bore of the cannon.

The invention consists also in certain dev'tails of constructionhereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this speciication, Figure 1 is adlagrammatic'sectlonal view illustrating my invention. Fig.

` 2 is a top planview of the 'inner section of the cannon lookin in thedirection of the arrow 1 of Fig. '4. Flg. 3 is a side View of saidsection looking in the direction of arrow 2 in Fig. 4. Figs. 4, 5, and 6are transverse sectional views of the inner section of the cannon, takenon the lines 4 4, 5 5, and 6 6 of In constructing a cannon in accordancewith my invention I employ an outer section A, which may be constructedin any suitable as the rifling op- Specification of Letters Patent.application mea August s. 1904. serial No. 219,376.

EASAN T RIDGE, OHIO,

' Patented May 8, 1906.

manner and provided' with any suitable form. of breech mechanism.

B mdlcates an inner tubular section,which its snugly within the outersection, and upon its exterior is provided with a series of grooves C,said grooves being arranged upon lspiral lines, as most clearly shown inFigs. 2 and 3. Each groove has an inletassage D leading from its rearend into thelnterior of the tu ular section B, and each tube also has anoutlet assage E leading from its forward end into tiie interior of thetubular section B. By reference to Fig. 1 it will be noted that when thecharge is fired a portion of the gases will pass into the passages Dthroughv the rooves C and out through the passages E ack into theinterior of the tubularvsectio'n ss I B, and owing to the spiralarrangement of the grooves C a whirling current or, in fact, a series ofwhirling currents will be produced in the barrel of the gun, which willact upon the projectile as it passes through the said barrel, and inthis manner a rotating' motion is imparted to said projectilesubstantially the same as though the barrel of the gun were rifled.Inasmuch as the inner tubular section B fits snugly within the outersection A the grooves C, together with the passages D and E, formcontinuous passa es splrally arranged, as shown, and it wil be notedthat these spirallyarranged passages gradually increase in length towardthe muzzle of the un, inasmuch as the projectile is traveling aster atthe muzzle than at the breech of the un. g It will thus be seen ythat Iprovide an eX- ceedingly cheap sim le construction Voi' smooth-borecannon wliich will produce exactly the same result as a rifled cannon,and it will also be noted that this result is accomplished withoutweakening said cannon.

Having thus fully descrlbed my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to-secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A smooth-bore cannon having a series of gas-passages spirallyarranged with reference to the bore of the cannon, and communicating attheir ends with the said bore.

2. A smooth-bore cannon comprising inner and outer tubular sections andhaving a' series of curved gas-'passages karranged spirally withreference to the bore, the ends of said passages communicating with thebore of the cannon.

1oV spiral relative to the bore and. having an inletassage communicatingat its rear end Wit 1 the bore, and an outlet-passage communieaiting atits forward end with the bore, said rooves being gradated in length asspeci led.

f WILLIAMM QHEITKAMP.

Witnesses:

IoLA G. HALLER, DAVID DAVIS.

